Truths, facts, and other inconvenient realizations
by PleasedAsPunch
Summary: A short, fluffy romance about the Doctor and Rose finally coming to their senses.
1. Chapter 1

**Truths, facts, and other inconvenient realizations**

_ Chapter 1: Truths_

_ Oh_, he thought, as a shower of sparks showered over his face and hair. _Oh, oh Rassilon_.

He rolled himself out from underneath the console and pushed himself up into a sitting position. The room was its usual warm shade of orange, but besides the thrumming of the TARDIS, the room was silent.

He looked at his hand and flexed his fingers. They still felt very new. After all, he had only had them for a little over a month. They were long and thin, but they looked purposeful, and they were dead useful, much better than his old fingers, which he still missed regardless. He had liked that body.

But this one. This body. It explained a lot. It was younger. And ruder. And he might even say, objectively, of course, that it was sexier. Or he liked to think so.

In the past all of his generations seemed to make sense. However, odd and eccentric, or grave and no-nonsense, they always did him justice and served their purposes well. He had to admit, though, that this time he really, really liked this body. And for the first time in what seemed a long time, he actually liked himself.

It wasn't fair to account that all to his new body. Sure, he could wear a suit well, and _damn_, did he have excellent hair, but he couldn't exactly take credit for it; it wasn't exactly a conscious decision…but he had a theory about that.

This theory involved a certain blonde woman sleeping down the hallway. It was quite late in the night by Earth standards, specifically those of London, and she would likely be asleep for several more of the foreseeable hours.

In his theory, she was the beginning and the end. This made him smile. He'd made Rose sound biblical. Rose Tyler, Defender of Earth. Maybe she was. Biblical, that is. Maybe to the Universe, or maybe just to him.

He jerked himself out of his reverie.

Rose would indeed explain a lot of things about his new body. She was in fact very young. This new body was younger. She wasn't exactly the most soft-spoken woman in the Universe. He loved that. And he wasn't exactly muffling his rudeness. She had big, beautiful brown eyes that almost swirled with amber. This new body, too, had brown eyes. He was fairly certain that they didn't do any kind of swirling, but still, maybe it was some kind of homogenic thing?

No, of course not. He was getting his hopes up. He was over 900 years old. She was barely out of her teens. That was, as she had once put it, one hell of an age gap.

One hell of an age gap, indeed.

He wanted, almost more than anything, to believe that maybe the Universe had done him a favor this time. Maybe this body was made for Rose. Maybe the Universe was going to give him a chance to love somebody…

He rubbed his forehead with the inside of his wrist, kneading out the wrinkles from his furrowed brow.

If this was the case, the Universe was being pretty vague and cryptic about the whole affair.

_And_, he thought, _even if this body did happen to be made for Rose, and maybe, impossibly, somehow, I do actually love her, she probably doesn't love me. I'm an old man. I might not look it, but I am. I'm not healthy for her. I'm too dark and dangerous and rude. _

_ But think of the way you catch her looking at you._

_ You're tricking yourself. You're seeing what you want to see._

_ Don't be stupid, you're a Time Lord, you see exactly what's there._

_ Ugh, Time Lords don't love._

_ Sure they do!_

_ They don't love _humans_._

_ Shows what you know._

_ Idiot._

_ Ditto._

He was beginning to think he'd lost his mind. Wouldn't be the first time, now that he thought about it, but those times had always been induced by some alien scheme, and he'd always come out of it.

Maybe he wasn't losing his mind. Maybe he was just in lo—

He didn't want to say it. But he should. He should admit it, because it was the truth. He'd never been one to deny a cold, hard, fact laid out in front of him, and he wasn't about to start now. If he didn't recognize this truth, what's to say he wouldn't start rejecting others? He couldn't have himself rejecting the fabric of the Universe. No, indeed.

He needed to admit that he, unequivocally, was in love with Rose Tyler.


	2. Chapter 2

**A/N: Ah! I'm updating this crazy fast. I was a bit bored, so I just wrote some more. This is kind of short. The next and final installment of this story should be longer.**

_Chapter 2: Facts_

Rose may not have finished her A-levels, but she was a smart girl. And yet, sitting on her bed within a makeshift nighttime, arranged by hitting all the lights in her room and the hallway where her room sat, she felt she only knew a few things with absolute certainty.

The first of those things is that the Earth was not alone, that she had seen the edges of the Universe and the fringes of Time, and she did it in the comfort of a very special Police Call Box.

That was more than one thing, but she wasn't splitting hairs.

The second of those things was that not long ago, the Doctor had changed. Where he was once big-eared and dopey he was now lean and dark…and sexy. She liked how he looked before, but the old him had grown on her; the new him was instantly compelling and magnetic.

He was different, and it scared the hell out of her. How does someone just change shape all of sudden? And not just change shape, but walk and talk and act differently? He was a new and different man, but he was the same. She knew he was the same because of the way he looked at her. It was the same way he used to look at her.

All around her the lights were off and the air reasonably still, considering they were rolling about in the Time Vortex. She wore her pyjamas but she had not yet peeled back the covers even though the hour was quite late. He probably thought she was sleeping soundly. The darkness was a good place to think, if only the thoughts she needed to think would come.

She was very certain about one more thing, and she felt it to her core, but she had never actually put it into words, not even in her mind. She pursed her lips in frustration, willing herself just to think what ought to be thought. Even knowing all the facts she knew, she was still a coward to admit it to herself.

_You're afraid you'll be rejected, that's all. _She thought.

_ No, it's more than that. You're worried about the life you'll have to live if he rejects you. You're worried about living life without him. It terrifies you._

_ But I'm not dependent on him. That's ridiculous. I don't _need_ a man._

_ You need _him_._

_ But he doesn't need me._

_ And that's what hurts the most._

Tragedy surged through her as she realized the truth of her words. He'd been alive for over 900 years, and he'd gotten along just fine without her. As much as she would always need him, he would never need her. He knew she would leave him someday, even if she swore she would never, and he would move on to the next eager traveler. She was no different from anyone else.

She sighed loudly in an attempt to choke back a sob. It didn't work. Silent tears erupted from her eyes and rolled down her cheeks. Hallways away from the console room, the Doctor would never have to see her cry. She would pull herself together and tomorrow they would go on another adventure. The only difference would be that this time, she would go on that adventure knowing that she loved him, and that she would stay with him as long as he wanted her there.

This thought made her sit up straighter. Rose Tyler loves the Doctor. Saying it made her feel liberated and strong.

_Rose Tyler loves the Doctor_.

It also made her feel small and insignificant. Who was she when compared to the last living Time Lord? But some things cannot be helped. Some things are stupid and rash and perfect and whole and also massively inconvenient.

She was sure. Every time she repeated it she was surer. Rose Tyler loves the Doctor.

* * *

><p><strong>Thanks for reading! Please review! :)<strong>


	3. Chapter 3

**A/N: This next part of the story I've decided to experiment with form to mix it up a bit. Rose's side will be told in regular text and the Doctor's in bolded text. Internal monologue is still italicized. Eventually the two sides will merge, at which point the bold will be eliminated and it will read like a regular story. Hope that clears up any potential confusion.**

_Chapter Three: Other Inconvenient Realizations_

Rose pushed herself off the bed and walked to her door, not bothering to grab her dressing gown. She paused just before turning the handle, wondering if what she was doing was rather rash; thinking for just a moment of all of he repercussions of the actions she was about to take.

**He stood up and took a deep breath that made his hearts beat quickly and his palms sweaty. He traced an errant thought that made him wonder if his palms had ever actually sweated before, but he shoved it to the side of his mind and began walking.**

She was going to do this. She wasn't the type of woman to pine hopelessly or sit passively waiting for permission to feel.

**He was a Time Lord. He needed to man up. He was no coward. Not, at least, before now.**

_Breathe, _she thought, and pushed the door open, thinking instantly, but with headstrong determination, that what she was doing was actually incredibly stupid, and _why was she doing it, honestly, what was she thinking?_

** What was he thinking? He almost turned on his heel back to the console room, but something made him keep going. That thing was probably recklessness. It'd done him a lot of good before, but it also had a penchant of getting him into trouble.**

Her bare feet tapped almost silently against the cold floor and the dim, sparse light threw odd shadows about the corridors. She could barely see a thing, and it made her wish she'd brought a torch. Not that she had one or needed one before. She traced an errant thought that made her wonder if the Doctor would ever let her have her own Sonic, but she thought the better of it and shoved the thought to the side. She had business to attend to.

**Even with superior Time Lord senses, he couldn't see a thing. His trainers patted along the floor with increasing speed. He could turn around now. He could go back. Things could back to normal because, really, things had not yet actually changed…**

This was a dumb idea. She could turn around now. She could put away this nonsense where it belonged: in the depths of her heart, and things could go back to normal…

**No, he was going to do this.**

No, she needed to do this.

WHAM. The Doctor stumbled backwards and caught himself on the wall. Rose, however, was not so lucky, and toppled over completely, landing squarely on her bum.

They had run into each other in the heat of intense determination on both sides.

"Ow," said Rose weakly.

The Doctor stepped forward and kneeled down, and began checking to make sure she had sustained no serious injuries.

"I'm fine!" she insisted. "Really, I think I just had the wind knocked out of me."

She looked up at him reluctantly. She had not expected to see him so soon. She'd at least expected two minutes to muster some courage before she marched into the console room and…

The Doctor let go of her arm, which he had been needlessly inspecting, and he knew it. He also noticed that she wasn't wearing a dressing gown, and was dressed only a pair of short, thin pyjama bottoms and an equally thin camisole. He should stop ogling before she noticed.

She noticed.

"Were you on your way to see me?" He asked it teasingly, but he hoped furiously that she would say she was.

"I was."

_Yes!_ He did a mental fist pump.

"Oh? What d'you need that it kept you up?" He raised an eyebrow and looked at her with mock intensity.

"I-" she began. She couldn't say it. The words wouldn't come out. "I realized that I meant to borrow your copy of Oscar Wilde's short stories. I've only just remembered, I-"

She would have finished, but he burst out laughing, actually holding his stomach and shaking. She thought that only happened in cartoons.

"Rubbish!" he choked out.

"Well, what were YOU doing?"

That stopped his laughing very quickly.

"I—I can walk around in my own residence whenever I like!"

"You just happened to be launching down this corridor—my corridor—the one you rarely use so we can keep the lights off when I sleep—at top speed just because you fancied a stroll in the pitch dark in the middle of the night?"

"It's only the middle of the night for you."

"Don't be a child." The words sounded venomous, but she sounded teasing—mostly.

"I was coming to see you," he admitted.

"Oh, well, that's convenient, then."

"Yes. I supposed we've met halfway."

They inched closer together, Rose still sitting on the floor, the Doctor kneeling on one knee. She could feel his breath on her collar bone. There was a long pause in the air, where he could hear her heart pick up in double time, and she heard his start and stop over and over, as if they couldn't decide who they were beating for.

"Rose…I wanted-"

"Doctor, I need to tell you-" They spoke at the same time.

"Me first," he said. "Sorry, Rose, but this is important. And I need you to listen carefully, okay?"

She nodded.

"I realized something a little while ago. I've known it for while, I think, but it actually consciously came into my head about an hour ago. I'm breaking every rule I ever set for myself by telling you what I'm about to tell you, but I've always known that you set about as much store in rules as I do—which is to say, none. So I'll just say it, really, because it needs to be said. It's the truth after all. The truth should be acknowledged, if nothing else, so-"

"I love you, Doctor." She winced at her own words. They had come out hurried and without the casual inflection she had planned on.

"—I love you, Rose Tyler."

They stared blankly at each other as their words seemed to collide in midair.

But before another second could pass, the Doctor pulled gently on the small of Rose's back, pushing her into himself, and he kissed her, gently and kindly; a kiss full of sweet-nothings.

An hour ago, when he realized he was in love with Rose Tyler, he thought of all of the reasons why he should not be in love with Rose Tyler. She was human and he was complicated. She was sweet and young and he was old and damaged.

But between then and this moment, the moment when he began kissing her square on the mouth and she started kissing him back with even greater fervor, he thought that things could be simpler. Things could be better. She had, after all, made him whole again. She had given him a reason to live. He wanted to give her everything he had, even if that everything included years of his suffering and pain. If she wanted him, too, she deserved to have all of him. Rose deserved all of his love, and she already had it.

"Are you sure about this?" he asked quietly, breaking their kiss.

"Sure about…"

"Are you sure you want this. You and me. A human and a Time Lord. I'm dangerous for you. I can't give you a normal human life. I may not be able to give you children. We won't have a house or a mortgage—I mean, if that's what you really want, maybe we could think of something. It'd just be you and me and the TARDIS. Are you sure?"

"Children?" She raised an eyebrow. She thought of many things to say about that. That she was only twenty years old, and he needed to slow his horses. That they had only just kissed, and he was sort of getting ahead of himself…because children implied another activity, did it not? Unless Time Lords…uh…did it differently.

"You'd want to have children…with me?" is what she ended up saying.

He gulped awkwardly, realizing suddenly that he'd let his words run a little too far ahead of his brain.

"Um…" he muttered.

She blushed. "You don't have to answer."

"No, no. I started it. Okay. Wellll, if I'm being perfectly honest—and I don't mean to scare you away—but… yes, if that's something you wanted. If you wanted that, I'd want that more than anything in the world."

"You," she gasped, "you really love me, don't you?"

He deflated slightly. "Yes. You didn't believe me?"

"No, it's not that. I guess I just never thought you'd actually say it." She leaned her head against his chest and continued speaking. "When you said it—that you loved me—it was almost exactly how I heard it in my head, when I wished you were saying it for real. And I believed you, I did. But there's more than one level of comprehension, you know? More than one way to realize something…"

"Yeah?"

"I realized that I loved you when you were the old you. Later on I realized I'd never be able to have you the way I wanted. After a while I came to terms with it. And when you changed again…I realized that you were still the same man. Different, maybe…you have a definite new appeal, but I was still looking at the same man. And then I realized I still loved you, but I also realized that I wasn't at terms with it anymore. That's what I was coming to tell you. I want all of you. Even the baggage."

He chuckled softly. "I hope you know what you're getting yourself into, Rose Tyler."

"I think I have a pretty good idea, but you never fail to surprise me. Maybe you'll even surprise yourself. Maybe we _can_ have kids."

His eyes brightened in shock, horror, and amusement.

"Maybe not now, Rose. You're only twenty years old."

He leaned down and kissed her softly with all the love he had ever felt and a new kind of love he was feeling for the first time. It felt wonderful.


End file.
